What is the fate of an excited (energetic) molecule? All molecules posses
a certain amount of energy by virtue of their temperature, and this is
called thermal excitation. But what about molecules that have much more
energy than the average energy of room temperature molecules. In general,
the greater the excitation energy a molecule possesses, the faster this
energy will be dissipated or released in some way. Highly excited molecules
are very reactive and may release their energy chemically, If all else
fails, the molecule may radiate energy as photons. We will measure the
fate of optically excited Iodine (I2) molecules as a function
of time via the radiation they emit.
Theory of the Experiment